Spiritually-Based Organizational Leadership TEST

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Thomas Francis University • Course G380 • Segment 1

—Douglas R. Kelley, PhD, CH, CSL

Updated: September 26, 2021

Upon Completion of this Segment, You Will Know:

• Your own reasons for being a leader.

• The difference between leadership and management.

• 21 leadership mistakes managers make.

• Characteristics of good leadership.

• The difference between an empowered and disempowered team culture.

• How to empower your team.

• Leadership as a Managed, Mismanaged, and Unmanaged Process.

• The differences between three common leadership styles.

Leaders make things possible. Exceptional leaders make them inevitable.

—Lance Morrow, Journalist

eading a team can be very rewarding, but it also takes an enormous amount of dedication and

work. Being a leader/manager is not for everyone, and I will not sugarcoat the amount of time

and effort you will spend tending to the myriad of details that need to be addressed. I dare

say that most of your employees will never quite appreciate just how much time you invest into

making your department run smoothly. But if you want something done right, you need to put in the

time and effort.

This course is number one of two courses that go together. The information has been divided to

make it easier to digest and manage. As you read this section on leadership and all that it entails,

you may be tempted to skim through it lightly. Don’t. This is a full blown leadership course that

applies to many areas of not only your secular life, but your personal life as well. Make the commit-

ment to read it until you comprehend it, and as you do, think of how the information relates to your

own team.

Nothing is more important to the success of your organization than effective leadership. The charac-

ter of any firm is only as good as its leadership. Effective leadership is about the last thing on the

minds of many managers, but it should be the first thing because without good leadership, your

organization will eventually fail. Without good leadership, you will not be able to truly fulfill your

organization’s Mission and you will undoubtedly experience more negative team member issues than

you want.

Segment 1: The Art of Leadership

As a leader, you need to set high goals, ob-

jectives, and standards for yourself and your

team. Never be satisfied with the status quo!

Think for yourself! Just because “that’s the way

everyone else does it” doesn’t mean you have to

follow suit. Only do so if it seems to make good,

rational sense, and you are not bound by com-

pany policy.

Your leadership approach can mean the dif-

ference between success and failure. Right up

front, you need to make a serious and long-term

commitment to growing as a true leader, be-

cause if you don’t, you and your team will simply

not last. Never be satisfied with mediocrity! If

you are going to be a leader, then be one! Give

it your all! Be among the best there are!

Defining Your Reasons for Leadership

In order to effectively lead a team, you must

determine why you are doing this and where you

want to go with it. The two following questions

will take a little thought and it may be tempting

to skip them. Please don’t. Even though you may

find it somewhat difficult, ponder the following

questions before continuing. You will answer

them in the assignment for this segment.

1. I want to be or am a manager/leader be-

cause….

2. To me, being a successful leader means…

Leadership vs. Management

Is there a difference between leadership and

management? Yes! One of my past students put

it this way: “Management is what we are; lead-

ership is who we are.” Another one of my stu-

dents defined it this way: “Managers put out

fires; leaders teach their people to put out

fires.” The late Peter Drucker said, “Manage-

ment is doing things right; leadership is doing the

right things.” Put another way, managers

“make” people do things; leaders “motivate”

them to do things. This concept will be expanded on in subsequent portions of this course.

21 Leadership Mistakes Managers Make

Without proper leadership training, managers may un-

wittingly make mistakes that only serve to alienate their

employees. Take a look at the following list and check

any that apply to you. If you find some, make a commit-

ment to work on them, one at a time, until you’ve mas-

tered each one.

1.  Assuming that because the manager thinks some-

thing makes sense, everyone else should too.

2.  Not communicating

3.  Not delegating

4.  Not allowing his/her employees to shine

5.  Not giving credit where credit is due

6.  Not asking for employee input or listening to em-

ployee ideas

7.  Micro-Managing (always telling an employee

“how” rather than “what”)

8.  Not sharing the leadership

9.  Being inconsistent, unpredictable, and moody

10.  Not doing “Preventive Maintenance” by holding

regularly scheduled feedback and coaching sessions

with employees

11.  Not showing employees respect and dignity

12.  Yelling at employees

13.  Criticizing employees in public

14.  Not holding employees to accountability (allowing

employees to get away with things that they

shouldn’t)

15.  Not enforcing company policies

16.  Not getting to know employees as human beings,

including employee motivations

17.  Not developing themselves or their employees (in-

cludes training)

18.  Being so preoccupied with getting “things” done

that he/she neglects employees

19.  Using subtle threats embedded in regular-sound-

ing conversation that reminds employees that they

could be fired

20.  Delaying doing Performance Reviews

21.  Working against human nature

Segment 1: The Art of Leadership

A simple way to understand this is that managers manage, and leaders lead. Managers are task-

focused; leaders are people-focused. And an amazing thing happens when you focus on people: the

tasks all get done, and they get done better than otherwise. All managers may not be good leaders,

but all leaders are good managers.

As the manager of your team, you must provide excellent leadership that they will naturally follow.

This is accomplished by learning and following good leadership principles.

Incidentally, if you also happen to manage non-paid volunteers, this same information applies.

Some have said that there are significant differences between managing paid employees and manag-

ing non-paid volunteers. I disagree. While there may be some minor differences, all of the leadership

principles still apply. It is up to you to decide how tightly you hold to these principles as they apply

to volunteers. I would suggest that you always maintain reasonableness and appropriate flexibility

while using your own good judgment in all situations.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD LEADERSHIP

Many characteristics of good leadership exist, but I want to briefly focus on several practical lead-

ership traits. Many more are peppered throughout this course. Please read the following with your

own team in mind.

1. Leaders understand and work with human nature. Much has been written about leadership

over the eons of human existence, and more will undoubtedly be written in the centuries to

come. However, good leadership can be boiled down to one basic concept: Great leaders have

a profound understanding of human nature and they work with it—not against it. Human nature

is discussed in Course G140: Metaphysical Psychology and we will revisit it in Segment 3 of this

course.

2. Leaders are excellent communicators. It is difficult to stress the importance of good commu-

nication in all human endeavors. The underlying factor in all human relationship problems and

misunderstandings is the lack of proper and timely communication. Never forget the following

principle: Lack of communication will kill any relationship. This principle is as consistent as

any physical law in our universe and equally important. In the same manner that you can set

your watch by the movement of the planets and stars, so too can you set your watch on this

principle of communication. Stop communicating and the relationship will fail. Regular com-

munication will help you to maintain the enthusiasm and energy of your group at a high level.

3. Leaders are reasonable, fair, predictable, and consistent. The quickest way to completely

decimate your team’s morale is to be moody and unpredictable. If today you blow up over

some insignificant thing, and tomorrow you handle a major crisis with a level head, you can be

certain that your team will never approach you with anything unless they absolutely have to;

the lines of communication will have been broken.

To avoid this, you as a leader must learn and utilize excellent communication and people

skills. This means that you need to be down-to-earth, not take yourself too seriously, and be a

Real-Live Human Being. Far too many people take themselves too seriously. They get upset

over mundane things that really don’t matter in the Grand Scheme of Things. They react before

fully thinking matters through. Good leaders avoid these types of negative behaviors.

Segment 1: The Art of Leadership

As a leader, pride yourself on being fair, reasonable, and consistent in all of your dealings

with others. Don’t allow anyone to ever knock you off of dead center regarding your self-

control and reasonable approach. Weigh things before you respond. Never react hastily.

4. Leaders have impeccable integrity. Integrity is defined as “adherence to moral and ethical

principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.”1 Leaders are above reproach when it comes

to dealing honestly and ethically with employees, colleagues, and everyone else. Leaders do

not lie either by commission or omission. They do not talk about others negatively behind their

backs. They always give the benefit of the doubt until there is a good reason not to do so.

Leaders with integrity strive to do the right thing for all concerned. They have a moral

compass that always points in an ethical direction. They practice the principle, “Do no harm.”

5. Leaders share their leadership. Leaders are neither control freaks nor micro-managers. They

share their leadership by getting others involved and displaying good communication skills.

Shared leadership is all about involvement and communication, being open to ideas, delegating

meaningful tasks that can potentially help others grow and give them a sense of accomplish-

ment. Leaders share their leadership by getting feedback from employees as well as allowing

them to be part of the decision-making process when appropriate. Shared leadership spreads

the control and promotes a healthy team environment in which employees can take pride. It

mitigates the Entitlement Attitude so pervasive in the world today.

6. Leaders succeed by helping others to succeed. This concept must permeate your entire per-

spective! If you want to succeed as a leader, then you must help your individual team members

to also succeed. This means different things to different people. People only do the things they

see a benefit in doing. This includes you and your employees. Your definition of success will

likely differ from your employees. In order for you to succeed, you must define what “success”

as a leader means to you (you did this step above). Likewise, in order to help your employees

succeed, you need to know how they define “success” as it relates to being on the team. How

do you find out? Ask them! Ask them how you can help them to succeed in their respective

positions, and then work to help them succeed.

7. Leaders develop themselves. The concept of a “natural born leader” is largely a myth. While

it is true that some people are naturally gifted in leadership qualities, effective leaders have

educated themselves in a variety of areas including human nature and effective people skills.

The American Heritage® Dictionary defines the word “entropy” as, “the tendency for all

matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.” Entropy is the

universal phenomena in which things revert back to a state of inert matter, in other words,

things go back to the dust. Put another way, entropy involves the tendency for things to grav-

itate from a state of order to a state of disorder. When applied to human development, entropy

means: If we are not growing, we are dying. Some say that this is stagnation, which is true.

But stagnation is just a slow form of death.

Effective leaders are on a continual quest for knowledge, experience, personal growth, and

enlightenment. While many people think self-improvement is too hard and therefore rarely do

it, leaders don’t shrink back from investing in themselves by way of continuing education. The

very fact that you have enrolled in this course is evidence of your desire to grow! Be a sponge

for personal growth! Strive for Greatness; don’t settle for mediocrity!

Segment 1: The Art of Leadership

8. Leaders replicate themselves by developing others. If you want to have better employees,

teach them life skills. Coach them in effective communication skills. Train them how to be

top-shelf employees and emphasize the sense of pride that comes from being such. Help them

to think for themselves regarding their duties to the extent that doing so doesn’t conflict with

organizational policy. Having a great team doesn’t just happen; you have to create it by coach-

ing and developing your employees in an assertive manner over time. Continuing education is

a philosophy that should be part of your team and organizational culture.

By developing and training your team, you, in essence, replicate yourself. Your objective is

to have competent and capable employees who can and will perform necessary tasks and pro-

cedures with minimum supervision. This allows a team to work together without unnecessary

friction.

Aspects of these traits and many others will be explored and expanded upon in the pages to follow.

In addition, several other courses bear on leadership including Course G70 on the Life Leadership

ParagonTM, Courses G100 and G110 on communication skills, Courses G80 and G90 on relationship

skills, and Course G130 on goals, time management, and problem solving. You will be successful as a

leader only to the extent that you absorb and apply these traits and skills. If you have not taken these

courses, it is recommended that you do so before completing this course. It will help broaden your

foundation for this leadership certification course.

HOW TO EMPOWER YOUR EMPLOYEES AND MAINTAIN AN EMPOWERED TEAM CULTURE

We often hear of a corporation’s “culture,” which essentially means their philosophy and approach

to doing business. When asked what the word “culture” means, most people say “environment,”

which is true. Let me share with you an easier definition of the word, “culture:” “It’s the way we do

things around here.” To understand this better, consider that even regional cultures exist in different

countries. For example, in various regions of the United States, people generally refer to soft drinks

as “soda” (Northeast), “coke” (South), “pop” (West and Midwest), and “tonic” (some New England

areas).

Some organizational cultures are healthy, some are not. Consider your own team’s culture. Is it

“empowered?” or “disempowered?” Regardless of your answer, how can you empower your team

members and either transform or enhance your team culture?

The answer is that you have to give them something in particular. It is certainly true that you must

show them kindness, respect, dignity, honor, appreciation, and recognition (to name a few), but

there is one extremely important thing that you must give them to empower them: Control. And more

accurately, appropriate control. We will discuss the human need for control in the next two chapters;

however, suffice it to say that we all have a need for control. When we feel a loss of control, it leads

to stress and poor relationships. When we hoard control by being “control freaks,” it disempowers us

and others. People will stop dealing with us eventually and we will ultimately crash and burn.

Giving your employees appropriate control is a part of shared leadership. It doesn’t mean that

you act stupidly by dumping and running; it means that you give as much control to your team as is

reasonably possible. All of us feel much better when we have a sense of control over our life and

surroundings.

So, to empower your team, give them appropriate control. Share the leadership. Don’t be a control

freak demanding that everything is done your way. While there will certainly be some things that

need to be done in a specific manner, there will also be other things that don’t really matter.

Segment 1: The Art of Leadership

Work with human nature; not against it. By so doing, you will establish a healthy and empowered

team culture.

LEADERSHIP AS A PROCESS

Leadership can be a Managed, Unmanaged, or Mismanaged process. The dictionary defines the

word “process” as, “A series of actions taken to achieve a result.” It is a fact of life that if you want

a certain result, you must follow a specific process. For example, if you want to harvest corn, you

must go through the process of planting corn (not wheat). Then you must cultivate and water it, as

well as provide pest prevention. If the process is correct, you will get the desired results.

Leaders/managers, of course, desire certain results out of employees, such as punctuality, show-

ing up consistently, and doing the work properly. However, far too many managers don’t fully appre-

ciate that their own day-to-day behavior and leadership approach (or lack thereof) can have a dra-

matic impact on getting what they want from employees.

The chart on the last page below generally describes the processes of Unmanaged, Mismanaged,

and Managed Leadership. It also shows the effective results of each process. As you examine the

chart, ask yourself which process best describes you.

Once you have studied the chart, ponder some of the following conclusions:

• If you want certain results, you must go through a certain process.

• All processes net specific results.

• Assertive Leadership means focusing mutually on yourself and your employees.

• If you want to transform a disempowered team into an empowered team, give them “Appro-

priate Control.”

• The more you understand and work with human nature, the more empowering your leadership

will be.

• Effective Leadership starts with you developing you!

• Morale is directly related to the quality of the manager’s supervision and leadership!

What about you? Ponder these questions:

• Where do you think you fall on the chart? Which process best describes your approach?

• Where would your employees say you fall on the chart? Which process would they say best

describes your approach?

• Which areas of your approach could use some refinement? (Why not choose an area, work on

it diligently for a week, and then move on to another area?)

Segment 1: The Art of Leadership

The following audio will help you to better understand Leadership as a Process and the following

chart below.

Segment 1 Supplemental Audio: Leadership (with Chart Discussion)

NOTE: Before proceeding to the next section, please listen to the audio above on

the Course Page for a supplemental discussion of this section. This audio is part of

the course.

Segment 1: The Art of Leadership